


Baptism

by sunnywasabi



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23215069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnywasabi/pseuds/sunnywasabi
Summary: The day Crocodile was officially imprisoned in Impel Down. And How Daz Bones got the scar on his right eye.
Relationships: Crocodile/Mr. 1 | Daz Bones
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Baptism

**Author's Note:**

> Note: When I wrote this piece in 2018, I didn’t know Daz Bones was 15 years younger than Crocodile（As revealed in the Vivre Card）

* * *

Daz Bones was awaiting.

He felt he had been waiting forever, that he was pondering in the burning air of the inferno hell. He remembered it was like many years ago, when he was waiting outside of a shower roomwaiting for that man to finish. It was the man who used to spend a long time to dry up. He remembered the faint scent of fragrance amid the mist of the shower room. He used to offer a jacket to that man. 

They never really talked about it. Crocodile never acknowledged the rare trust between them. Daz, on the other hand, never felt particularly honored with that trust. It was his job as the bodyguard. Then they got parted somehow. Often, Daz read about Sir. Crocodile in the newspaper. Hero of Alabasta, Warlord of the Sea, president of Rain Dinner. He gazed into that ever-smirking face. He wondered who would be guarding his shower room when he took a bath.

And he didnt ask when they met again.

Now Crocodile was about to take “the underworlds lukewarm bath of the inferno hell”, and he was well guarded by the jailers. 

They were separated as soon as they reached Impel Down, their clothes and personal belongings inventoried and stored. They shall receive the notorious Baptism ritual in the cauldron of boiling water.

For the purpose of hygiene, he was told, and to sterilize the soul. Daz heard of some weird devil fruit that would literally wash people clean. Yet it was the submissive attitude that Impel Down preferred, rather than a peaceful mind. The bloody cauldron was the first real-hard test for any real-tough criminals. It was never enjoyable to get pushed into a giant, deep, and bubbling pot, particularly not for the abiliators with their sea prism cuffs on. Daz presumed there must be some who would never surface again. He thought of Mr.2 and Mr.3, who had received their Baptism earlier, and wished them good time upstairs.   
  
They were ordered to put on their prison uniforms right after the bath, beaten for slow movement. Screams echoed among the criminals until one name was announced.

"Crocodile!"

Was it _him_? _The_ Crocodile? Criminals asked each other, neglecting pains in their freshly-knocked heads, looking upward to the cauldron.

Now presented the last show of the day. Daz thought. Unlike other criminals who baptized in bunches, Crocodile was there alone. His iconic hook was removed. Since the empty left wrist held no place for the regular cuffs, he had a bracelet on his right hand and cuffs chained on his ankles. All made of sea prism, heavy and tight. His clothes had been stripped off just like any other criminals ready for a bath. Not so peculiar, they commented. A taller guy, but not so impressive for a Warlord of the Sea. 

You would see how impressive his right hand was without that sea prism bracelet. Daz scanned the surroundings. Look at those guards who gripped on their weapons. More jailer beasts were gathering on the entrance. Daz could bet right now, Magellan, the warden of Impel Down, was watching behind the monitors in his office.

With his abilities suppressed by sea prism, with his hook taken, with his title deprived, standing indifferently by the cauldron, the man was still, STILL, the most dangerous criminal here. A jailer beast approached and raised his rod, its muscles pumped. The guards aimed their guns towards Crocodile.

You thought less of his pride. Daz looked at this scenario and sighed under his breath. This guy was mean when he was winning. Dirty deeds done dirt cheap. Yet when he was doomed to his failure, he turned out to be too proud to escape. Here, in front of all the desperate criminals, Crocodile would never try to avoid the blow from the jailer beast. He would not disgrace himself. He would not escape.

If he liked, he could have run away long before he was here. 

The vice head jailer gave the order, and there came the blow. Daz smelled the hint of blood in the air. Crocodile didnt make any sound as he fell into the water. Silence spawned over the inferno hell. Only the crackle of the fire burnt beneath the cauldron could be heard. 

Not a single scream.

From where he stood, Daz couldnt see anything in the cauldron. The vice head jailer looked slightly surprised, but she didnt say anything, just reading the stopwatch in her hand. That crocodile would not die so conveniently. No. 

All he could do was to wait. Daz knew what a cruelty water torture could be. Crocodile, among all the abiliators, feared water. This was one secret of the former Warlord of the Sea. He couldnt turn into the form of sand when he got wet. Usually a shower or a rainfall wouldnt weaken an abiliator, but even a glass of water could render him defenseless. Almost defenseless, to be precise. Sand-sand fruit was radical on both its power and its weakness. This was the secret they had shared.

The stopwatch buzzed so loudly in the soundless inferno hell. The Baptism of Sir. Crocodile was over. He was dragged from the water and dropped onto the floor. A regular prison uniform by his side, he was just a few steps from Daz and the rest of the criminals. The guards still had their guns pointed at him.

Crocodile used to keep Daz out from the shower room until he was completely dry. There was a downpour when they were defeated in Alabasta, but he missed the final battle as he was knocked out by Zoro the sword man. Now as he looked at a soaking Crocodile lying on the floor, a strange feeling aroused. 

Daz was worried. Should his vulnerability expose Crocodile would be dead in Impel Down. And he felt odd, too. Crocodile extended his naked body so elegantly that it was like an attempt to show, his damp dark hair casting a shadow over his eyes. Daz felt the thirst. 

Crocodile didnt say anything, nor did he reach for his uniform. The criminals watched, chattering in low voice.

"Silent! " ordered the vice head jailer. "Criminal Crocodile! Stand up and put on the uniform! Have your prosthetic and handcuffs on! "

Daz barely noticed that the jailers had brought along the hook. They needed to put it back to his left wrist, fixed it, then got him handcuffed. The right hand that could bring drought and death was the real threat. They wanted to limit his strength and ability with the handcuff of dense sea prism. The hook, by comparison, was not a serious concern. 

Slowly, Crocodile looked up, and finger-combed a few strands of hair behind his ear. He saw Daz. His lips curved into a cunning smile that resembled the long scar across his face. He looked familiar.

"Criminal Crocodile! Stand up NOW! "

The guards held their ground. The Jailer beasts fidgeted. The criminals were uneasy.

" What's with him? If they shot we all gonna die! "

"The beasts are getting closer! "

"That bastard gonna bring Magellan here! "

"Damn it！He sank my ship! Now he’s gonna kill me again in this prison!”

Daz weighed the cuffs on his wrists.

“What’s so big, huh? He is a DEFETED warlord! Hey will you stand up and put on a fight!”

About 40 criminals behind Daz. 30 or so ready to attack.

"We all gonna die here! What about a Warlord of the Sea die with us!"

  
They were the desperate criminals who would spend the rest of their lives on level four and five.

"A dog of the Navy and World Gov! Lets take him! "

They found a vent for the anger and desperation.

Daz could tell the heating hostility behind him. Wearing that cold smirk on his face, Crocodile was sitting up in a gracious move. Too gracious that it was more like a challenge. Unless you knew what water did to him.

The vice head jailer pressed her finger on the headphone and looked towards the Wardens office. Then she received the instruction and raised her hand.

The criminals winced at this gesture, but it were the guards who retreated.

Criminal Crocodile. You dont obtain any privilege in Impel Down. One last warning or you will suffer the consequences. 

Crocodile laughed darkly.

The vice head jailer lowered her hand. Criminals panicked and stampeded for a cover, then they saw the guards drew back their guns. 

And the jailer beasts started to move backward.

Daz got the message. The fellow-prisoners-shall-not-assault-each-other rule could be abandoned for a while. An arrogant former Warlord of the Sea suppressed by sea prism versus a gang of dangerous pirates who hated the World Gov and the Privateers. Impel Down wanted them to learn their lessons by fighting each other.

The criminals understood. They were hesitating, getting the guts up.

"Fuck it.."

The first attacker was down, hardly uttered his curse.

Daz turned around to face the criminals. The second and the third kneeled with their broken nose and eyes. Another attempt to charge was blocked when the leading guy was strangled by the chains of the sea prism cuffs. He then was used as a flail to strike his followers. Dull sounds of irons and stones smashing the heads. Knuckles cracking the bones. Chains dangling and strangling. The spilling of the blood. Amid the cries of anger and pain, someone recalled: "He's the Assassin of the West Blue!”

That voice vanished in the flames beneath the cauldron.

  
Then there was a shot. The bullet from the vice head jailer neatly avoided Daz, bringing down a criminal ahead of him. Time Over.

A dozen of criminals did not participate. The whole rest of them fell down on the floor. No one made it to pass this assassin of the West Blue. No one managed to lay a finger on the former Warlord.

It was long enough for Crocodile to dry up.

Daz turned. There was a blurred vision in his right eye. He couldnt see so clearly as the blood streaming from the arch of his eyebrow. Crocodile stood up, still and naked, with an unfamiliar smile, like a statue of mystery. Daz shook his head and picked up the uniform on the floor.

The vice head jailer looked at the Wardens office again, then she gave Daz the go-ahead. She pointed her pistol at them all the time when Daz helped Crocodile to dress. As they finished, she ordered Daz to back off by raising her pistol slightly.

  
"Sorry about the blood stains. " Daz said.

Crocodile leaned forward, tilted his head a little bit, and put a kiss on the bleeding right eye of Daz. He stepped back, licking the blood on his lips. He stared at Daz for a few seconds, smiled again, and let the jailers put back his hook, fix it, and put on the handcuffs.

Daz was overwhelmed by mixed feelings of surprise, joy, pain, and sweetness. His heart was full of all sorts of emotions he had experienced and never experienced. At last, he felt dizzy, and fell.  
\---------

In the Wardens Office

“It could have reflected on you. If anything happened, you should take responsibilities. Probably be fired. Then I will change my prison uniform into bath towels with stripes, I mean the prison uniform, very convenient after the bath.” Hannibal the under warden sincerely suggested.

"What do you think he was plotting? "

"To show his contempt of Impel Down. To irritate us. A former Warlord, but always a pirate. You really put a dangerous test on him. It could make me the warden if something went wrong. "

"I'll take care if any...Hey why are you wearing a mask and running for the door?”

"So the prisoners? "

"Treat the wounded then send them to Level Five. Those who were not involved stay in Level Four. Keep Daz Bones in solitary confinement for one week and leave him in Level Four. He will take care of some prisoners for us. But you keep an eye on him. Now you go check Level Six. Make sure theres no mistake when we have Crocodile imprisoned. Check the sea prism on him. Once he uses his abilities, doors mean nothing.”

Once he uses his abilities YOU will deal with him by yourself. You are held responsibilities anyway. Oh, and that Daz Bones. Tough man I dont want to mess with. Why if I were the Warden, I want a right-hand man who will fight off 20, no, 30 some enemies for me. Hannibal thought, as he started to work.


End file.
